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Andy Stanley - The Seven Pillars of Preeminence with Glen Jackson, Part 1 From the Vault · Andy Stanley Sermons

• 0:02
  Speaker 1: Welcome to the Andy Stanley Leadership Podcast, a conversation designed
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: to help leaders go further, faster.
• 0:08
  Speaker 2: I'm Andy Stanley, and today I'll.
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: Be your host because today I have my friend Glenn
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: Jackson in the studio with me, which means I get
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: to ask the questions.
• 0:15
  Speaker 2: Thanks so much for joining us, Glenn.
• 0:17
  Speaker 3: Thanks, Andy. It's a real privilege to be with you,
• 0:19
  Speaker 3: and thanks so much for having me.
• 0:21
  Speaker 2: Yeah, this is going to be fun.
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: As some of you know, Glenn is the co-founder of
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: Jackson's Falling, one of the most, if not the most,
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: respected marketing communications agencies in the Southeast. with a significant
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: and growing national presence. In fact, I was just telling
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: Glenn this morning I ran into a friend of mine
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: who has just employed your organization to help them walk
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: through a very sticky situation, and we'll talk about some
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: of those a little bit later on. Jackson Spalding has
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: earned a share of awards for their excellent client work,
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: from public relations, creative work, to really all elements of storytelling,
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: especially as it relates to marketing.
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: They've got over 130 team members. They've been ranked. This
• 0:59
  Speaker 2: is so cool. They've been ranked as the best agency
• 1:01
  Speaker 2: to work for in the city of Atlanta. Some of your.
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: Clients include Coca-Cola, Toyota, Chick-fil-A, Publix, Delta, Orkin.
• 1:08
  Speaker 2: Just to name a few.
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: Now, the reason I asked Glenn to join me today
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: is to talk about a topic we have never talked
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: about before because I kind of think Glenn created this.
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: At least he's taken a word and built a business
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: model around it. And the word is preeminence. So specifically,
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: we're going to talk about what it means to have
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: to build and to sustain a, as Glenn refers to it,
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: a preeminent organization. And as I just mentioned, Jackson Spalding
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: works for some very well-known brands, brands that would be
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: considered without question preeminent in the marketplace and in their industry.
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: So this is Glenn's word. It's a value he has
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: worked hard to weave into the fabric of his company.
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: And it's something all of us are interested in, whether
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: we ever use the term preeminence.
• 1:51
  Speaker 2: Or not.
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  Speaker 1: So Glenn, let's start with the definition. What is preeminence,
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  Speaker 1: especially within the context of the marketplace?
• 1:57
  Speaker 3: Well, I define preeminence, Andy, as extraordinary excellence once reached
• 2:01
  Speaker 3: and sustained creates a competitive advantage. I'll say it again.
• 2:06
  Speaker 3: Preeminence is extraordinary excellence once reached and sustained creates a
• 2:10
  Speaker 3: competitive advantage. Extraordinary excellence is the highest degree of excellence possible.
• 2:15
  Speaker 3: What makes it extraordinary is is that excellence is consistently
• 2:19
  Speaker 3: first rate in thought and execution. So the ceiling of
• 2:23
  Speaker 3: excellence is always being raised higher and higher. It never plateaus.
• 2:29
  Speaker 3: And the sustaining piece of the definition is absolutely key.
• 2:34
  Speaker 3: There is an unflinching, unswerving commitment, a real sense of
• 2:38
  Speaker 3: staying power and being the best you can be each
• 2:41
  Speaker 3: and every day when you're a preeminent brand. So there's
• 2:44
  Speaker 3: a relentless drive and a never resting on your laurels.
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  Speaker 3: Along with the relentless pursuit, there is an egoless leadership
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  Speaker 3: mindset too.
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: And that's something I want us to come back to
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: because the whole idea of egoless leadership.
• 2:59
  Speaker 2: I'm not sure that's a thing.
• 3:02
  Speaker 3: It is.
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  Speaker 2: I've not seen that very often, but keep going. We're
• 3:05
  Speaker 2: going to come back to egoless leadership.
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  Speaker 3: Yes. So you need to be confident, Andy. You need
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  Speaker 3: to be confident, but leave your egos at the door.
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  Speaker 3: And I see a lot of that with preeminent companies.
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  Speaker 3: It's what Jim Collins talks about, the genius of the end,
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  Speaker 3: relentless and egoless. It's a combination of both. It's being
• 3:25
  Speaker 3: gracious and ambitious. It's being humble and hungry.
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  Speaker 2: And the competitive advantage side of this is what?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, the competitive advantage is that they're really what I've
• 3:34
  Speaker 3: seen and observed is there are three specific benefits to
• 3:37
  Speaker 3: the competitive advantage piece. Increased market share. Increased momentum or topspin.
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  Speaker 3: There's just incredible momentum. And then also increased morale for
• 3:47
  Speaker 3: the long haul culturally. Those are the three.
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  Speaker 1: Okay, we're going to circle back around to the connection
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  Speaker 1: between competitive advantage and preeminence. But first, why and when
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: did you start studying preeminence? Where did the word come from?
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  Speaker 1: Because when I first saw this and looked at your
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: content around this, I thought, what a great word. Because
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  Speaker 1: it's not static. It's fluid, as you've already told us.
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  Speaker 1: it's the whole idea of preeminence and excellence is on
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  Speaker 1: one hand.
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  Speaker 2: You're never finished.
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  Speaker 1: And yet you have taken a sort of an elusive
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  Speaker 1: goal and made it concrete enough that a company can
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  Speaker 1: actually shoot for this. And at the same time, as
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  Speaker 1: you just said, never settle for. So where did all
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  Speaker 1: that come from?
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  Speaker 3: I started seeing the word preeminent or preeminence being used
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  Speaker 3: a great deal in meetings. Clients would say, we want
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  Speaker 3: to be a preeminent brand or their preeminent company. And
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  Speaker 3: et cetera, et cetera. So I was just curious. So
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  Speaker 3: I looked up the definition and really didn't like what
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  Speaker 3: I saw. I thought the definition, kind of the tried
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  Speaker 3: and true definition, was kind of missing in some gravity
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  Speaker 3: and weight bearing. I talked a lot about being superior
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  Speaker 3: or a notch above the rest, but I felt like
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  Speaker 3: we needed to go deeper with the definition. So I
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  Speaker 3: just developed my own definition based on observing Various brands
• 5:03
  Speaker 3: I respect and admire in business, and many of these
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  Speaker 3: we're privileged to work for at Jackson Spaulding.
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  Speaker 1: Well, Glenn, as I alluded to, the whole idea of
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  Speaker 1: preeminence being characterized by there's no ceiling of excellence, the
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  Speaker 1: standards being raised higher and higher, and it never plateaus.
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  Speaker 1: So I think the challenge for the word, even though
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  Speaker 1: I love it, and I'm sure our podcast listeners love
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  Speaker 1: the word, how do you get there? I mean, is
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  Speaker 1: there something that tips a leader off, okay, we have
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  Speaker 1: become a preeminent organization? Because There's not a finish line
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  Speaker 1: associated with this. This is not a goal that you
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  Speaker 1: put a check by. This is a constant quest, and
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  Speaker 1: yet there has to be something you can measure to
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  Speaker 1: make it somewhat satisfying.
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  Speaker 2: So how do you quantify that?
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  Speaker 3: That's a great question, and I believe there is a
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  Speaker 3: quantification factor, absolutely. And the litmus test really is do
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  Speaker 3: various organizations aspire to achieve what you have sustained?
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  Speaker 2: Okay, say that again. That's a big idea.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah. The litmus test is do various organizations, sometimes your competitors,
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  Speaker 3: do they aspire to achieve what you've sustained?
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  Speaker 1: So peers in an industry look at your organization, and
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  Speaker 1: it's usually that you may be direct competitors or even
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  Speaker 1: indirect competitors or maybe in a different industry, and they
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  Speaker 1: look at the organization itself, not the product, but the
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: organization itself and say, wow, we wish our organization was
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: more like that organization.
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  Speaker 3: Yes. And a lot of the brands you referenced earlier, Publix, Chick-fil-A, Coke,
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  Speaker 3: a lot of their competitors aspire to do what they're doing.
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  Speaker 3: And they want to achieve what premium brands have sustained.
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  Speaker 3: So what happens is they head your way, literally. They
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  Speaker 3: come see you. They want to see your office environment.
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  Speaker 3: They want to meet you. They want to learn about
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  Speaker 3: your business and your leadership philosophies. When a lot of
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  Speaker 3: businesses want to come visit you, it's always a good sign.
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  Speaker 3: That's a good sign. And they come and they soak
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  Speaker 3: up what you share with them like a sponge, Andy.
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  Speaker 3: They just listen. They're fascinated with what they hear. And
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  Speaker 3: they hear things that you don't even realize you're telling them,
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  Speaker 3: but they're just taking it all in.
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  Speaker 2: Preeminent organizations know more than they think they know. Is
• 7:18
  Speaker 2: that true? Correct.
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  Speaker 3: Yes.
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  Speaker 2: They think, oh, what do we have to share? What
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  Speaker 2: are we going to say?
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  Speaker 1: And then somebody gets there and begins asking questions, and
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  Speaker 1: it starts pouring out, and you realize, well, I know
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  Speaker 1: a lot more than I thought I knew because I've
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  Speaker 1: been in this for so long.
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  Speaker 3: Is that?
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  Speaker 1: Yes. So this is more than a reputation with customers
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  Speaker 1: or clients. This is developing a reputation with peers and competitors.
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  Speaker 3: Correct.
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  Speaker 1: And I think that's why I love the word and
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  Speaker 1: I love this discussion because in our businesses or in
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  Speaker 1: our nonprofits, we think in terms of doing a better
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  Speaker 1: and better job for customers and clients.
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  Speaker 3: Mm-hmm.
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  Speaker 1: This is looking at the organization through a completely different lens.
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  Speaker 1: It's asking, how are we doing as an organization, not
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  Speaker 1: in terms of customer and client relationship, but really our
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  Speaker 1: relationship and reputation in the broader world. Correct.
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  Speaker 3: Yes. Spot on. All right.
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  Speaker 2: So let's get specific.
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  Speaker 1: You've identified seven pillars that you believe are foundational to
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  Speaker 1: all preeminent companies and that really any company that's perceived
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  Speaker 1: as preeminent in their industry or in the marketplace in
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  Speaker 1: general is. are built on these seven pillars. I guess
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  Speaker 1: whether they recognize it or not. This is something that
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  Speaker 1: you have observed and have begun talking about. And again,
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  Speaker 1: as we talk about here all the time, when you
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  Speaker 1: identify what works and you put words around it and
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  Speaker 1: talk about it, it helps an organization stay focused on
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  Speaker 1: that thing that may be their secret sauce until somebody said, hey,
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  Speaker 1: I think I've been able to put the recipe in words.
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  Speaker 2: So what are these seven pillars?
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  Speaker 3: Well, the seven pillars are one, trust. Two, relationship building. Three,
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  Speaker 3: marketing communications. Four, assessment. Five, the cultural torch of servant leadership. Very,
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  Speaker 3: very important. Six, fanatical focus. And seven, remarkable resiliency.
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  Speaker 1: Okay, well, we're going to talk about all seven of these,
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  Speaker 1: but we're not going to talk about all seven of.
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  Speaker 2: These in this episode of the Leadership Podcast.
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  Speaker 1: We're going to talk about three today, and then if
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  Speaker 1: we have time, I want to ask you a question
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  Speaker 1: that is a little bit off topic as it relates
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  Speaker 1: to the seven pillars, and then next month we'll come
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  Speaker 1: back and wrap this up. So let's begin with pillar
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  Speaker 1: number one, trust.
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  Speaker 3: Trust. Trust is the most important five-letter word in all
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  Speaker 3: of business. Fred Smith, the founder of FedEx, said this recently,
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  Speaker 3: at the end of the day, we are all essentially
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  Speaker 3: selling trust and could not agree with him more. Trust
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  Speaker 3: is a function of character and competency. And as Covey
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  Speaker 3: writes about in his book, nothing moves faster than the
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  Speaker 3: speed of trust. Character and competency work together And that
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  Speaker 3: helps create that speed, that acceleration. On the character piece, Andy,
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  Speaker 3: your definition is spot on in that character is the
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  Speaker 3: will to do what's right, as defined by God, regardless
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  Speaker 3: of personality. cost. I believe strongly that watch your character,
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  Speaker 3: it becomes your destiny. On the character side, I believe
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  Speaker 3: that character success always supersedes circumstance success.
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  Speaker 2: So let me see if I can say that back.
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  Speaker 1: Character success always supersedes circumstance success.
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  Speaker 2: And by circumstance, you're talking about what actually happens in
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  Speaker 2: the marketplace.
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  Speaker 3: Correct.
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  Speaker 1: Wow.
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  Speaker 2: Correct.
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  Speaker 3: It always does. And if you lead with circumstance success,
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  Speaker 3: the irony of that is that you'll lose out on
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  Speaker 3: the character success and you won't succeed in the circumstance.
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  Speaker 3: If you lead with character success, you will always, always
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  Speaker 3: take advantage of the circumstance.
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  Speaker 1: Glenn, again, the idea of character success, again, not individual character,
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  Speaker 1: the character of a company. this is such a big
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  Speaker 1: idea and it's so important to you. Recently, I heard
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  Speaker 1: you tell a story of early on in the life
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  Speaker 1: of your company. You just started, your wife's pregnant, you're
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: living in an apartment, you and your partner are trying
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: to figure out.
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  Speaker 2: Is this thing going to, is this even going to work?
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  Speaker 1: And then you had a conversation with a new friend,
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  Speaker 1: I think on the soccer field, you were coaching a
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  Speaker 1: four-year-old or fourth grade soccer team. Tell our audience that
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  Speaker 1: story because I think this more than anything captures the
• 11:17
  Speaker 1: essence and the emotion and the power of the idea
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  Speaker 1: of of the character piece preceding the circumstance piece.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, we were just getting rolling in 1995. I was
• 11:27
  Speaker 3: coaching soccer, and one of the dads called me and
• 11:30
  Speaker 3: asked to meet with me. And I met with him,
• 11:32
  Speaker 3: and he said they represent a very big company, global company,
• 11:37
  Speaker 3: and told us about a promotion they were doing. And
• 11:39
  Speaker 3: they had hired a New York agency, but he wanted
• 11:41
  Speaker 3: to learn a little bit more about what we do
• 11:43
  Speaker 3: just in case we might could work with them. So
• 11:47
  Speaker 3: long story short, he told us about what the New
• 11:50
  Speaker 3: York agency had in mind for this promotion. We saw
• 11:53
  Speaker 3: some gaps. We worked on a plan over the weekend
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  Speaker 3: and sent him our ideas and told him no pride
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  Speaker 3: of ownership. Give this to the New York agency.
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  Speaker 1: So you weren't looking for new business. Here are some
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: ideas and send them to our competitors.
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  Speaker 2: So what happened?
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  Speaker 3: He calls back two weeks later and offers to pay
• 12:13
  Speaker 3: us for the work. And I refused. it wasn't the
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  Speaker 3: right thing to do. We did not write this to
• 12:20
  Speaker 3: get paid. We wrote this because we wanted to sharpen
• 12:22
  Speaker 3: our saw and show them how we think for long-term benefits.
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  Speaker 3: And I told Bo Spalding, my great partner, about the decision.
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  Speaker 3: He said, you made the right call.
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  Speaker 2: Wow.
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  Speaker 1: Now, because when I first heard you tell this story,
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: my first thought was, wait a minute, accepting payment for
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: your good ideas, there's nothing wrong with that.
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  Speaker 2: So we're talking about character.
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  Speaker 1: So what was it in you and your partner that said, no,
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  Speaker 1: even though we really need a paycheck at this point,
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  Speaker 1: We're going to take great ideas, hand it to someone
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  Speaker 1: who we have no business relationship with, who's going to
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: hand it off to somebody who, again, could one day
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  Speaker 1: be a direct competitor. How does that connect with character?
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  Speaker 3: I think because of the character piece, the last thing
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  Speaker 3: we wanted was to try to take a piece of
• 13:09
  Speaker 3: business away from an agency that had already engaged them.
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  Speaker 3: We just wanted to maybe plant a seed down the
• 13:15
  Speaker 3: road for them to think about us. for some other
• 13:17
  Speaker 3: promotions that they might need help on.
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  Speaker 2: And that's exactly what happened.
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  Speaker 3: That's correct.
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  Speaker 2: How does this tell us the end of the story?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, a couple of weeks later, he calls back and says, hey, Glenn,
• 13:26
  Speaker 3: you didn't know this when I came to see you,
• 13:28
  Speaker 3: but we were frustrated with what the agency in New
• 13:32
  Speaker 3: York was giving us. And we met this morning, and
• 13:35
  Speaker 3: we let them go, and we've hired you guys. And
• 13:38
  Speaker 3: by the way, we FedExed you a check to get
• 13:40
  Speaker 3: you started, and let's get going today. So off we went.
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  Speaker 1: So within the context of your definition of trust, trust
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  Speaker 1: is a function of character and competency. And the thing
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: I like about the story is you demonstrated both. You
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: gave this guy great ideas. That's your competency. But character was, hey,
• 13:57
  Speaker 1: we're not going to charge you for this because we
• 13:59
  Speaker 1: don't have an actual relationship with you or your organization.
• 14:02
  Speaker 2: And so both of these are important.
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  Speaker 3: Correct. Yes. And on the competency piece– It's all about
• 14:11
  Speaker 3: bringing to the table your acumen, your intelligence, your brainpower,
• 14:15
  Speaker 3: your quicksilver mind to show the stakeholders you're working with
• 14:21
  Speaker 3: how you think. So that's where the competency piece comes in.
• 14:25
  Speaker 3: For me, character is about your credibility and competency is
• 14:28
  Speaker 3: about your reliability. That's good. And they're the alchemy of
• 14:32
  Speaker 3: making trust move. with tremendous speed and effectiveness and eventually
• 14:37
  Speaker 3: deliver results, Andy.
• 14:38
  Speaker 2: Credibility and reliability. That's great. Glenn, you're convinced that trust
• 14:44
  Speaker 2: is a peculiar resource. I love that phrase. What do
• 14:47
  Speaker 2: you mean by that? How is trust a peculiar resource?
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  Speaker 2: Peculiar in the sense that it's rare or?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, and peculiar is a hard word to say. You're
• 14:55
  Speaker 3: doing well over there. It's peculiar in that the more
• 14:59
  Speaker 3: you have it, the more you have trust and use it,
• 15:02
  Speaker 3: the resourcefulness of trust increases compared to such things as
• 15:09
  Speaker 3: water and energy and oil. The more you use them,
• 15:13
  Speaker 3: oftentimes those resources can diminish. So this is never the
• 15:17
  Speaker 3: case with the trust resource. It always expands when tapped
• 15:21
  Speaker 3: into the right way.
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: Well, trust and character and to some extent even competency
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: are important. terms that are fun to throw around. But
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: at the end of the day, do they really contribute
• 15:29
  Speaker 1: to the bottom line? And I realize it's somewhat of
• 15:31
  Speaker 1: a rhetorical question. Obviously, you believe they do or we
• 15:34
  Speaker 1: wouldn't be sitting here. But for the skeptic or the
• 15:37
  Speaker 1: person that says, yeah, this sounds like motivational speakers. This
• 15:39
  Speaker 1: sounds like the guy we had at our conference last
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: year and everybody cheered. But then we all just went
• 15:43
  Speaker 1: back to work to do our jobs. Help our audience
• 15:46
  Speaker 1: understand the direct connection between trust, especially as it relates
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: to corporate character and the bottom line.
• 15:53
  Speaker 3: I think there is a tangible connection between the two.
• 15:56
  Speaker 3: There are studies out there that have shown that high-trust
• 16:00
  Speaker 3: companies outperform low-trust companies up to 300%. Wow. And that's
• 16:04
  Speaker 3: a big number.
• 16:05
  Speaker 2: That's a big number.
• 16:06
  Speaker 3: That's a Watson-White survey from a while back, but still
• 16:09
  Speaker 3: I think has merit. And this shows you just that
• 16:13
  Speaker 3: trust is such a powerful multiplier.
• 16:15
  Speaker 1: And is it perceived trust or is it actual trust?
• 16:19
  Speaker 1: I realize perception is reality to some extent. But in
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: terms of these studies and your personal experience, I mean,
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: everybody gives off the perception that we're a trustworthy company.
• 16:29
  Speaker 1: I mean, that's what marketing is about. It's what advertising is.
• 16:31
  Speaker 1: But you're talking about actual trust.
• 16:35
  Speaker 3: It is actual living, breathing trust. Absolutely. Yeah, there's actual, real, serious,
• 16:45
  Speaker 3: tangible trust to this. And There are measurable outcomes to trust.
• 16:49
  Speaker 3: Covey talks a lot about this. He says there are two.
• 16:52
  Speaker 3: It's speed and reduction of cost. So what happens is
• 16:55
  Speaker 3: there's increased speed with trust. Companies make quicker decisions to
• 16:59
  Speaker 3: engage you because they trust you, and that reduces your
• 17:02
  Speaker 3: cost because it takes less time to get going. And conversely,
• 17:06
  Speaker 3: there's slower speed and higher cost for companies lower in
• 17:09
  Speaker 3: the trust area. It just takes longer. They're spending more time,
• 17:12
  Speaker 3: more energy, more resources to get going, Um, so the
• 17:17
  Speaker 3: way I kind of describe it is that the trust
• 17:19
  Speaker 3: gives you a tailwind, Andy, while the lack of trust
• 17:22
  Speaker 3: creates a headwind.
• 17:24
  Speaker 2: That's really good.
• 17:24
  Speaker 3: And I'll take the tailwind. Yes.
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: And that's something that all of us experience relationally. So
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: that's not a foreign concept, but again, like a lot
• 17:31
  Speaker 1: of these terms you're using to bring this into a
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: corporate context, that makes a lot of sense.
• 17:36
  Speaker 2: A lot more we could talk about as it relates
• 17:37
  Speaker 2: to trust.
• 17:38
  Speaker 1: Let's go to pillar number two, relationship building. Why is
• 17:41
  Speaker 1: relationship building key?
• 17:43
  Speaker 3: It is absolutely essential. Um, Relationship building is all about,
• 17:50
  Speaker 3: with preeminent companies, they are relationally rich and they have
• 17:52
  Speaker 3: relational wealth. I define relationship building as establishing and investing
• 17:59
  Speaker 3: in relationships that genuinely matter to you. The investing piece
• 18:06
  Speaker 3: is critical and you need to be very genuine about it.
• 18:09
  Speaker 3: People know when you're genuine by your sincerity and having
• 18:13
  Speaker 3: a long-term, low-pressure mindset in the relationships you've established.
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: I doubt anybody would disagree with that, but I'm not
• 18:18
  Speaker 1: sure there's any new information there. So you believe there's
• 18:22
  Speaker 1: a big difference between relationship building and what most people
• 18:25
  Speaker 1: would consider networking and sort of the general terms we
• 18:29
  Speaker 1: throw around because everybody understands relationships are important. Can you
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: go a little deeper on that? What's different about this
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: pillar than what any company would embrace in terms of
• 18:38
  Speaker 1: the importance of relationships?
• 18:41
  Speaker 3: It's apples and oranges. Networking is about meeting people. whereas
• 18:46
  Speaker 3: relationship building is about investing in people. Networking is a task.
• 18:51
  Speaker 3: Relationship building is a commitment. Networking is the typical way
• 18:58
  Speaker 3: for most organizations, and relationship building is the better way.
• 19:01
  Speaker 3: I think and believe very strongly that networking is about
• 19:04
  Speaker 3: talking and taking, and relationship building is about listening and learning.
• 19:10
  Speaker 3: At our agency, for example, we have just totally banished
• 19:13
  Speaker 3: the word networking. We don't use it. what we talk
• 19:18
  Speaker 3: about is relationship building. We call this R & B music.
• 19:23
  Speaker 3: And you play the music and you invest in the
• 19:26
  Speaker 3: relationship long term. There's no pressure and good things happen
• 19:30
  Speaker 3: over time.
• 19:31
  Speaker 2: That's a helpful distinction, networking versus relationship building.
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: But what does that look like? What do relationship builders
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: actually do that's different than networking?
• 19:40
  Speaker 3: Well, I'll tell you what they don't do. First of all,
• 19:42
  Speaker 3: they never sell. They never sell. They are real. They
• 19:47
  Speaker 3: are accessible and helpful. They listen. They follow up. They care.
• 19:50
  Speaker 3: They spend time and energy on your behalf. And I
• 19:55
  Speaker 3: think that the best relationship builders do four things exceptionally well.
• 20:01
  Speaker 3: They connect, invest, personalize, and observe. So they're always helping.
• 20:07
  Speaker 2: Repeat those. That's good.
• 20:08
  Speaker 1: They connect.
• 20:08
  Speaker 3: They connect. They invest, they personalize, and they observe. So
• 20:14
  Speaker 3: relationship builders are always helping you connect with other people.
• 20:17
  Speaker 3: They'll say, hey, Andy, I know somebody you need to meet.
• 20:20
  Speaker 3: Go see Sally. I'm going to get out of the way.
• 20:22
  Speaker 3: You guys get together with your team and meet, and
• 20:25
  Speaker 3: I think it'll be beneficial. So they're always connecting. And
• 20:27
  Speaker 3: then they're also investing time and energy in relationships. They're
• 20:32
  Speaker 3: willing to see you and talk to you and invest
• 20:35
  Speaker 3: that time. And they personalize really well. For example, Frank Blake, wrote, what, 100,
• 20:40
  Speaker 3: 150 handwritten notes every weekend when you had him on
• 20:43
  Speaker 3: for Home Depot. That's a great personalizing. Personalizers send notes.
• 20:48
  Speaker 3: They send articles. They send books. They personalize a relationship well.
• 20:52
  Speaker 3: And then finally, I think relationship builders are great observers.
• 20:57
  Speaker 3: They are very, very high on emotional intelligence. And most
• 21:03
  Speaker 3: of them, a lot of them are introverts. And you
• 21:05
  Speaker 3: can be a great relationship builder and be an introvert.
• 21:08
  Speaker 3: You don't have to be an extrovert. I define emotional
• 21:13
  Speaker 3: intelligence as this. It's trusting your intuition. It's factoring in
• 21:18
  Speaker 3: your observations. And it's controlling your emotions. You never get flustered.
• 21:22
  Speaker 3: To do what? To make a timely decision and then
• 21:26
  Speaker 3: take a timely step. Emotional intelligence is a flexible skill.
• 21:31
  Speaker 3: You can work on it. You can get better at it.
• 21:33
  Speaker 3: And you can really make it work for you.
• 21:35
  Speaker 2: So we have trust. We have relationship building. And then
• 21:38
  Speaker 2: this third one, marketing skills. communications.
• 21:41
  Speaker 1: This is something that you love to talk about. So
• 21:44
  Speaker 1: what do you mean by marketing communications? And specifically, how
• 21:47
  Speaker 1: does it tie to preeminence?
• 21:50
  Speaker 3: Well, we do a lot of it as a marketing
• 21:52
  Speaker 3: communications agency at Jackson Spalding. And I believe that every organization,
• 21:57
  Speaker 3: large or small, has a brand bank account. And every
• 22:01
  Speaker 3: day is your opportunity to put deposits into that brand
• 22:04
  Speaker 3: bank account. And a brand is a promise always kept.
• 22:08
  Speaker 3: So the deposits you're making are all about those commitments
• 22:12
  Speaker 3: to keeping your promise. I think the best brand ambassadors
• 22:17
  Speaker 3: are what I would call their brand polishers. We'll talk
• 22:21
  Speaker 3: more about that. And I think they realize very much
• 22:24
  Speaker 3: that everything they say is heard and everything they do
• 22:27
  Speaker 3: is seen. And they realize that everywhere they go, they
• 22:30
  Speaker 3: represent the brand. And they're always very cognizant of that
• 22:34
  Speaker 3: fact and do it extremely well in an effortless way.
• 22:38
  Speaker 1: So in a preeminent organization, I guess the ultimate goal
• 22:42
  Speaker 1: is for everybody who's employed or everybody at every level
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: of the organization, they feel the gravity of the brand.
• 22:48
  Speaker 2: They feel responsibility. They feel they're stewards to some extent.
• 22:52
  Speaker 2: Of the brand.
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: And this is sort of a fluid way for there
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: to be marketing communications.
• 22:57
  Speaker 2: Is that correct?
• 22:57
  Speaker 3: Correct, Andy. And they're all marketing communications professionals. Everybody works
• 23:01
  Speaker 3: for you. They're in that field.
• 23:04
  Speaker 2: Whether they realize it or not.
• 23:06
  Speaker 3: We call our receptionist at JS, you're our vice president
• 23:09
  Speaker 3: of first impressions. That's her job. Yeah. And everybody's got
• 23:13
  Speaker 3: a role.
• 23:13
  Speaker 2: You've got a couple of great stories that illustrate this.
• 23:17
  Speaker 1: Pick your favorite and talk about that.
• 23:21
  Speaker 3: Well, I've got one recently. I ran into Don Keough's son-in-law. Mr.
• 23:26
  Speaker 3: Keough was president of the Coca-Cola company for many, many years,
• 23:30
  Speaker 3: had a prodigious influence on Coca-Cola's trajectory as a business.
• 23:34
  Speaker 3: And he said that Mr. Keough said that he was
• 23:39
  Speaker 3: asked once, what defines a successful day for you, Mr.
• 23:41
  Speaker 1: Keough?
• 23:42
  Speaker 3: He was asked that. And he said, I always want
• 23:46
  Speaker 3: the answer to this question to be yes when I'm
• 23:49
  Speaker 3: driving home each day. did I polish the Coke brand
• 23:54
  Speaker 3: just a little bit today?
• 23:55
  Speaker 2: That's amazing.
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: Did I polish the Coke brand just a little bit today?
• 24:00
  Speaker 3: And he elaborated on that and said, it's all about
• 24:04
  Speaker 3: the little things. The polishing could just be a lunch
• 24:08
  Speaker 3: with an employee or a conversation I have with a
• 24:11
  Speaker 3: shareholder or a letter I write. I always want to
• 24:14
  Speaker 3: make sure during the day I have done some sort
• 24:16
  Speaker 3: of polishing for our brand.
• 24:18
  Speaker 2: Wow.
• 24:19
  Speaker 3: And I think brand polishers have that mindset.
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: And that's a value every single person at every single
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: level in an organization can embrace.
• 24:26
  Speaker 2: Correct. Polishing the brand.
• 24:28
  Speaker 3: Yes, absolutely.
• 24:30
  Speaker 2: So for an organization to be preeminent, there need to
• 24:32
  Speaker 2: be a lot of brand polishers.
• 24:34
  Speaker 3: Absolutely. And you've got to have the mindset that everybody's
• 24:37
  Speaker 3: a brand polisher in some way or another.
• 24:39
  Speaker 2: This third pillar is marketing communications.
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: When we hear the word marketing, we think so many
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: different things, and marketing has changed so much.
• 24:48
  Speaker 2: What comes to mind when you think marketing? What are
• 24:50
  Speaker 2: you talking about specifically?
• 24:51
  Speaker 3: Well, from my vantage point, I think we are experiencing
• 24:55
  Speaker 3: a watershed moment in the field of marketing. There's a massive,
• 24:59
  Speaker 3: massive convergence between three types of media, earned, paid, and owned.
• 25:05
  Speaker 3: So the earned media is, you know, it's the publicity piece.
• 25:09
  Speaker 3: You're earning coverage. The paid media is the advertising piece.
• 25:13
  Speaker 3: But it's the owned media that is really, really gaining
• 25:16
  Speaker 3: in speed right now and importance.
• 25:18
  Speaker 2: What is owned media?
• 25:20
  Speaker 3: The owned media piece is everything you literally own. It's
• 25:26
  Speaker 3: your channel you control. It's your blog. It's your website.
• 25:30
  Speaker 3: It's your video. It's your piece of photography. It's your
• 25:33
  Speaker 3: social media platform. There's tremendous brand portability with owned media
• 25:39
  Speaker 3: right now, and it also gives you a great deal
• 25:42
  Speaker 3: of versatility and longevity in terms of how you use
• 25:46
  Speaker 3: these different owned pieces.
• 25:48
  Speaker 1: But Glenn, I'm sure you would agree that whether we're
• 25:51
  Speaker 1: talking about earned media, paid media, owned media, and I
• 25:53
  Speaker 1: love those distinctions, when it comes to communication and communicating,
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: there's some basic things that never change, right?
• 26:00
  Speaker 3: There are. There are two. And the two things are, one,
• 26:05
  Speaker 3: communications will always be about communicating with clarity and integrity
• 26:10
  Speaker 3: to the critical audience if you want to positively impact
• 26:12
  Speaker 3: over time. So no matter what type of owned media,
• 26:17
  Speaker 3: whether it's video or anything else, you always want to
• 26:20
  Speaker 3: make sure that goal is reached. Are we communicating with
• 26:23
  Speaker 3: clarity and integrity to the critical audiences we want to
• 26:26
  Speaker 3: reach and positively impact over time? That's essential. And then
• 26:32
  Speaker 3: communications as a whole is really like a wheel. And
• 26:35
  Speaker 3: what we do a lot for our clients is that
• 26:38
  Speaker 3: we help them determine the proper speed of acceleration for
• 26:41
  Speaker 3: that communications wheel. And there are six spokes of that
• 26:45
  Speaker 3: wheel that They will always be very, very important. And
• 26:49
  Speaker 3: these six spokes are the first spoke is the message.
• 26:52
  Speaker 3: Determine what your message is. Make sure it's memorable and repeatable.
• 26:56
  Speaker 3: The second spoke are the messengers. Who do we have
• 26:59
  Speaker 3: communicating that message? The third spoke is timing. What's the
• 27:02
  Speaker 3: best timing to communicate something? The fourth spoke is tone,
• 27:06
  Speaker 3: which is your nonverbal piece of communications. You really want
• 27:09
  Speaker 3: to think that through, Andy. The fifth spoke It's place.
• 27:13
  Speaker 3: Where's the best place for us to communicate something, an announcement,
• 27:17
  Speaker 3: a piece of exciting news? Imagine, for example, if Lincoln
• 27:20
  Speaker 3: didn't go to Gettysburg to give the Gettysburg Address. That
• 27:24
  Speaker 3: was the right place. Or Dr. King didn't go to
• 27:28
  Speaker 3: the Lincoln Memorial to give his I Have a Dream speech.
• 27:31
  Speaker 3: It's the right place. And then the final spoke is tools,
• 27:34
  Speaker 3: such as photography, videography, infographics. and the various uses of websites.
• 27:41
  Speaker 1: That's a podcast in and of itself right there. To
• 27:45
  Speaker 1: think through message, messengers, let me see if I got
• 27:47
  Speaker 1: them right, timing, tone, place, and tools.
• 27:53
  Speaker 3: Wow.
• 27:53
  Speaker 1: And so when you sit down with clients and customers,
• 27:56
  Speaker 1: these are things you talk about. But at the same time,
• 27:58
  Speaker 1: within the firm, as you think about how do we
• 28:00
  Speaker 1: become preeminent, messaging about your organization in general, you go
• 28:05
  Speaker 1: through this same grid.
• 28:06
  Speaker 3: We do. We use it a lot, and it's very helpful.
• 28:09
  Speaker 3: Very helpful.
• 28:10
  Speaker 1: Glenn, as I mentioned earlier, we're going to cover the
• 28:11
  Speaker 1: other four pillars of a preeminent company next month. But
• 28:14
  Speaker 1: before we go, your company has a reputation for being
• 28:20
  Speaker 1: extraordinarily helpful for companies that are in crisis, especially brand crisis.
• 28:26
  Speaker 1: And without giving away all of your secrets on our podcast,
• 28:31
  Speaker 1: I think it would be really great for you to
• 28:33
  Speaker 1: give us.
• 28:34
  Speaker 2: A snapshot of what do you tell a company?
• 28:36
  Speaker 1: Who is having a brand crisis because you've worked with
• 28:40
  Speaker 1: some very, very high profile companies to help them navigate
• 28:44
  Speaker 1: some very difficult waters when it comes to brand crisis.
• 28:47
  Speaker 1: So would you talk just a few minutes about that
• 28:49
  Speaker 1: before we wrap up this episode of the podcast?
• 28:51
  Speaker 3: Sure, Andy, happy to do that. First, I think it's
• 28:54
  Speaker 3: important to understand that there is a difference between a
• 28:58
  Speaker 3: reputational challenge and a reputational crisis. And you don't want
• 29:02
  Speaker 3: to overreact to the challenge to create the crisis.
• 29:05
  Speaker 1: Yeah, we've both seen organizations basically announce that there's a
• 29:10
  Speaker 1: problem and no one knew about it until they started
• 29:12
  Speaker 1: talking about it because it wasn't.
• 29:14
  Speaker 2: As widely known as they thought it was. But assuming
• 29:18
  Speaker 2: that this is.
• 29:19
  Speaker 1: A full-scale crisis, what is your sort of 30,000-foot advice
• 29:24
  Speaker 1: to organizations?
• 29:25
  Speaker 3: Well, if you're at fault and– You're in a crisis.
• 29:28
  Speaker 3: You've got to do four things. You sincerely apologize.
• 29:32
  Speaker 2: You've got to own it.
• 29:33
  Speaker 3: Own it. Two, you've got to fix what needs to
• 29:35
  Speaker 3: be rectified. Fix it. It could take time, but you
• 29:38
  Speaker 3: get after it and you fix it. Three, is you
• 29:40
  Speaker 3: humbly move forward. And four is you report on progress
• 29:44
  Speaker 3: along the way.
• 29:45
  Speaker 1: So it's okay to continue to talk about it if
• 29:49
  Speaker 1: you're reporting on progress along the way. Because I think
• 29:51
  Speaker 1: the natural inclination in a crisis is let's don't talk
• 29:54
  Speaker 1: about it so people will forget it.
• 29:55
  Speaker 2: And you think that's a mistake.
• 29:56
  Speaker 3: I think it can be a mistake, yes. It depends.
• 29:59
  Speaker 3: That's where you have to use your good judgment. But
• 30:01
  Speaker 3: it can really help you if you are needing to
• 30:03
  Speaker 3: report back to your constituents on the progress that's made
• 30:08
  Speaker 3: on what you've been working on.
• 30:09
  Speaker 1: The other thing you talk about in this context is
• 30:12
  Speaker 1: what you call the three S's.
• 30:14
  Speaker 3: Yes, the three S's. When you're in a crisis and
• 30:17
  Speaker 3: you know you're in one, Andy, one is speed of response.
• 30:20
  Speaker 3: You've got to move quickly in the response because of
• 30:23
  Speaker 3: our unbelievably fast news cycle now. Yep. Number two is
• 30:26
  Speaker 3: the substance of your message. It needs to have some
• 30:29
  Speaker 3: weight bearing again and not be seen as you're hiding
• 30:33
  Speaker 3: from something. And then three, you've got to have a
• 30:36
  Speaker 3: strong spokesperson. He or she can really, really be key
• 30:40
  Speaker 3: as you navigate these tough waters.
• 30:42
  Speaker 2: Well, Glenn, that is a lot to digest.
• 30:45
  Speaker 1: I feel sorry for our podcast listeners who are listening
• 30:47
  Speaker 1: to this in the car and we're not able to
• 30:49
  Speaker 1: take notes.
• 30:50
  Speaker 2: Hey, thanks so much for joining us today.
• 30:51
  Speaker 1: And to all of our listeners, we want to thank
• 30:53
  Speaker 1: you for joining us as well and invite you to
• 30:55
  Speaker 1: join us next month where we will conclude this conversation
• 30:58
  Speaker 1: with Glenn Jackson on the seven pillars of a preeminent organization.
• 31:01
  Speaker 1: And when you get an opportunity, visit our website, andystanley.com.
• 31:05
  Speaker 1: On the website, you'll find a leadership podcast application guide
• 31:09
  Speaker 1: that goes with today's conversation. So for those of you
• 31:12
  Speaker 1: that weren't able to take notes, we have done some
• 31:14
  Speaker 1: of that for you. As always, thanks so much for
• 31:16
  Speaker 1: joining us. We will see you next month right back
• 31:18
  Speaker 1: here on our Leadership Podcast.